[420 Girl]

Protesters rallying in Harrisburg Monday for the legalization of medicinal marijuana have a great goal in mind, even if their approach is slightly misguided

Twelve states have already passed bills legalizing it, and Pennsylvania would be smart to add itself to that list. Marijuana can be an effective substitute for habit-forming painkillers with horrific side effects.

As it stands, pharmaceutical companies and the groups that lobby for them have way too much power in this country. While this makes the legalization of marijuana a bit more difficult, it's also more incentive.

For that to happen, the legalization movement needs a change in image. When people think of protesters for this cause, they don't think of 55-year-old construction workers with torn labrums or 80-year-old grandmothers with glaucoma, which is a shame, because those are the sorts of people who need this the most.

Instead, they think of the advocates who view the movement as a stepping stone toward complete legalization of marijuana, the stereotypical tie-dyed dorm room bong hitter or the burnout behind the high school gym. This perception undermines entirely what is otherwise a worthy cause.

Many of these sorts of protesters, including some of those who rallied in Harrisburg Monday, need to change their approach to make any progress on the issue.

Comparing marijuana with alcohol and tobacco, as people so often do, is weak. Sure, marijuana isn't addictive and doesn't kill nearly as many people as do cigarettes and alcohol, but comparing a potentially medicinal drugs with those intended for recreational use is faulty.

The stronger comparison is with prescription drugs used for purposes similar to the painkilling properties of marijuana.

Regardless of one's opinion on recreational marijuana use, it's necessary to look at the medicinal marijuana use issue not as a means to that end, but as an end in itself.

Don't worry about the intent of pain-free college kids rallying for medicinal marijuana legalization. Instead, worry about the people in pain whom legalization could actually help. Or worry about who it would hurt: absolutely no one.

http://www.420magazine.com/forums/in...d-refocus.html